that is that. >> we will see you on the radio. >> goodbye, everybody. >> the crisis along the border growing every day, but the president will not see it in person, at least for now. eric: welcome this hour of "happening now." tens of thousands of illegal immigrants with 35,000 per month have been pouring into our country from central america as we have been reporting. among them, many mothers and kids making the journey by the cells. jenna: holding a hearing on the crisis and the impact on operations overall as the president and texas governor rick perry agreed twice it down.

they will be joined for a bit of a roundtable discussion. mr. obama will leave shortly for texas, but he is not expected to visit the border. the president will attend previously scheduled fundraise fundraisers. in dallas with more for us right now. >> is important to say this is not a one-on-one interview, but it is better than nothing because frankly it was looking for quite some time president obama and governor rick perry would not get an ounce of face time while obama is in texas. a number of letters flying back and forth, president obama inviting the governor to greet him when air force one touches down. he said a tarmac handshake was not good enough in light of the crisis at the border in this state. and then invite to it and the

roundtable today, rick perry accepted. members of local clergy, they will be brainstorming with president on how to handle and control the influx of young children spilling over into the united states, but plenty of lawmakers remain critical about how president obama can make two stops in this, dallas today, austin tomorrow, in the midst of what the white house itself has called a humanitarian crisis yet not even make a trip down to the border. >> we help him get outside the bubble all presidents get in, but this president seems determined to be tone deaf in terms of the human consequences of the policies he himself has caused. >> telling reporters this.

>> the president is well aware of what is going on at the border. political statements made with and appearance, but rather with specific concrete action, steps to mitigate this problem. >> he is basically saying an appearance as a political stunt, if you will. plans can always change and we will let you know if w a border visit is added to the itinerary, but for right now it seems the visit to texas is primarily a fundraising one. jenna: thank you very much. eric: one prominent lawmaker says the white house asked him to keep his criticism of the border policy to himself. telling fox and friends this morning instead he is watching out for the folks back home instead. speak a lot of times they get angry with her own party hamas speaks out.

have you gotten that call? >> yes, i have. but we're more concerned about not anxious at the white house, more concerned of my constituents. >> who called you? >> we will leave it like that. eric: some we told him to keep his mouth shut. the administration should've seen this coming a long time ago. jenna: we have some more action on capitol hill today on a separate but equally big story asked the head of the irs head back a few hours from now. investigate whether government wasted $100 million in improper payment why the irs could not stop them. some controversy over the lost

e-mails for lois lerner. could also face questions on that as lawmakers charge got some facts wrong during the testimony of e-mails. eric: the va scandal punisher even shown the door, officials after speaking out. the workday environment of the department of veterans affair, test my during a host hearing last night on whistleblowers, plenty of reaction to it as being called a retaliation and cover-up culture. live with the very latest on capitol hill. reporter: some real-life cases of whistleblowers facing retribution. one of them is the woman by the name of catherine mitchell. currently in er doctor described the pattern of horizontal

violence. not physical violence which she said is exceedingly rare, but pattern of intimidation, exclusion and harassment. speaking t about the testimony. >> had no problems for my orders down, in front of patients in front of the visitors and in front of police officers and housekeepers. eric: another staffer in atlanta since the whistleblower complaint to the deputy chief of staff and after he filed the complaint curious to the complaint was leaked to his immediate supervisor back in atlanta. soon came in retribution. >> i was illegally placed on a

work detail by assistant deputy and acting chief business officer. reporter: their work and new legislation to better protect whistleblowers, i whistleblower law already in effect but critics say the court have diminished their impact over the years and in addition to that the fbi is conducting a full-scale criminal investigation of wrongdoing at the veterans administration. back to you. eric: thank you so much. more reaction to stunning stories exposed at that mitchell hearing last night. what he heard, what this means and what they will do about it in about 15 minutes. jenna: senate democrats taking action against the supreme court contraception ruling in the favor of hobby lobby. they are spearheading legislation that would essentially overturn the supreme

court ruling by banning companies from refusing to cover any federally guaranteed health benefits for any religious reasons getting. >> people understand if they can deny birth control, they can deny vaccines, hiv treatment or other basic health services for employees or their dependents. jenna: she wrote about this topic as it broke yesterday evening. tell us a little bit about this. you say there is a political motive to this, what is it? >> to turn out women voters in november. democrats feel they have the public on their side on this issue and they're very interested to make sure single women in particular, out in the midterm election year when normally they would be voting. of course in congress we expect lawmakers to respond to the issues of the day, it is not

surprising they will be able to do that this morning with a big push for the democrats, this is not a bill that is going to pass congress, will not be enacted into law, the house republicans will not allow that to happen. this is a symbolic move to make sure women voters support them in november. jenna: congress is not very popular on this type of an issue, will it work and get them out to vote? >> it is very hard to say. they do feel they have a winning argument with younger, single women in this hobby lobby case. they feel the public is on their side, the supreme court made a decision it will be unpopular with swing voters. casting light on the public consensus on these issues in a way they feel is effective. that could work in some isolated

way, but we will have to wait and see. >> he mention the races happening for the senate in colorado. a democrat from colorado cosponsoring this bill. even though you are touching on the larger national issue, what do you think is the impact specifically toward this one race that will determine the fate of the senate. >> it is very interesting. having mark cosign the legislation with a democrat from washington, in fact under fire for supporting legislation which in addition to what republicans would say protecting the unborn would ban birth control on the defensive, all of them are available over the counter, a very interesting move, so in a

way this can be acknowledgment they are on the defensive and wants to bolster him as into this debate. jenna: let's take a step back and look at this nationally. going the route on the war on women looking at how obamacare will play in the midterm elections. what have you heard from them on the house or the senate, how will they go with obamacare the next several months, how about the symbolism coming from them? >> we have been waiting for a long time to come up with an alternative to obamacare, they promised best to voters but we have not seen that. mosboth political reporters in washington, d.c., do not believe house republicans will be offering legislative alternative before the midterm election because they believe it is unpopular enough they can) that.

of course obamacare will be a major motivator for conservative voters in this cycle, but it has moved away from the center of the news cycle which makes it a little more difficult for republicans to count on that as a major issue. eric: always great to have you on the program and appreciate your reporting very much, thank you. eric: the terrorist who tweet. insight into the islamic terror group isis. their take a page from al qaeda playbook by expanding its role online. hoping to recruit more young followers. chief intelligence correspondent live in washington. reporter: the briefing was classified, the situation continues to deteriorate with isis getting ground.

threpublicans accusing white hoe of lacking coherence strategy. >> they have no strategy that counters what our intelligence estimates are address the threat to the united states of america. >> very active in iraq trying to help the government at the same time active in syria, that complicates what we should do. reporter: isis and followers are using social media to spread their propaganda. this claims to show a pass being issued after the isis leaders declared its establishment. no way to authenticate the photo, or issuing passports, it

shows is serious about laying claims to islamic state with straight adherence to sharia l law. those working the counterterrorism area, also taking a page from the al qaeda affiliate with amazing. in the report is designed like inspire magazine for more global audience and to showcase services they are providing in iraq well beyond the violence. eric: they will spread their message anyway they can. jenna: under attack with those in major cities. how israel is responding, we are live on israel-gaza border with more on that. back at home, bullets flying on a busy highway with deadly results. the story next.

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eric: here is some new information on stories we're keeping a close eye on. three women and two men shot and injured in providence, rhode island, last night. one victim said to be in serious condition. police have not yet named any suspects. the major expressway shutdown illinois this morning. a woman was shot dead on the dandelion expressway in chicago. the victim is a pregnant mother of five whose brother was shot

to death last year. they are investigating that shooting. taking the troll of the palace after militants forced their way onto a gunfire. thehave claimed responsibility r that attack. government officials say the president was not inside at the time but there are several categories. jenna: a rush of attacks aimed at the major cities including jerusalem and tel aviv. guests attending a wedding near some of these areas forced to take cover after rocket was blown up by the system israel has. the bride and groom rushing through the ceremony as a second rocket went off and israel launching major air defensive against the terror group in ga gaza. john hotti hardy has more.

reporter: jenna, yeah, the defense forces have been extremely busy launching airstrikes and knocking down the rockets targeting israel including one that we saw a little while ago. the video of it, take a look. the missile launcher just fired meaning it struck an incoming rocket that was targeting, blew it up right there targeting civilian location. >> a great job for the crew scrambled to get that. the rocket was aimed at about 125,000 people not far from he here, it is also where we are

staying. these numbers are fluid because things are changing, but so far 48 rockets have been fired, we have not heard of any serious damage or injuries. 14 intercepted by the defense system, the air force has hit 129 targets throughout gaza with her strength, 30 palestinians have been killed including palestinian children. they called on both sides, earlier a spokesperson said echoing the rhetoric from yesterday all israelis have now become legitimate targets. by the way, those rockets have a range as far as tel aviv and also jerusalem. jenna: very much developing story and one that we're going to watch. thank you be at eric: allegations of cover-up, retaliation and this diagnosis. more problems for the growing problems. the member of the house veteran

affairs committee on the stunning accusations he heard last night from va staffers. and finally making his case to a judge for the very first time today. sitting in the mexican jail cell after taking the wrong turn on the border row. is our country doing enough to bring him home? >> mr. president, sir, you have a marine serving your country faithfully, why isn't there any sort of a fight going on at the white house level to get andrew back for freedom. guy: ok, and just click on the one you want.

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the certificate is the time behind bars writes now he is in for more than 100 days charged with carrying three registered guns across the border illegal illegally. they say it is a misunderstanding but he ended up in mexico because he made a wrong turn. we certainly want to hear from you as we await to hear from a judge ourselves. go to foxnews.com/happening now and click on the story to join the conversation. eric: wrongdoing at the va and getting the boot because of it. some frustrated staffers explain their experience there. one of the former va employees is catherine mitchell, worked at the troubled phoenix facility appeared earlier. >> as far as not doing my orders, not even handling simple

orders like wh was a charge nur. efficiency is dropped. the same thing for medical skills. eric: congressmen, this is so disgusting, so offensive. they routinely punish these people, but it also spoke of agencies covering up, lying and the mistake of the veterans. >> we have gone through hours of meetings, it is astonishing to me. i have a veterans hospital in mile from my front door. these people get up everyday and go go to the hospital, we know that is going on right now. there are allegations that are mind blowing to me.

one case last night i couldn't believe it in boston, massachusetts, for two veterans who had mental issues and didn't have a note in seven years in their charge. another was a doctor who is still on the payroll we used 1241 cases where he had cut and paste information. they should be fired immediately, and this is going on right now. i have used trust, the va is losing trust. eric: as a doctor, how do you feel about this, where has that failed, an when these kind of stories come through, what has happened in the system that continues to be spread.

>> there are 70 investigations going on right now. what happens is there is a culture at the va allowed to develop. it has been going on for decad decades. what is bothersome is on the committee people say to me why haven't you done something. let me give you an example. they send the medical investigator to investigate this issue and came back, there was no harm done. we found out the investigation where they were manipulated, no patient was harmed. i find these free without. patients are harmed because we're losing trust and we just had a meeting this morning with the senate side, i am on the conference committee to pass legislation and hopefully get past roughly soon to give

veteran's choice they want to opt out" side so we can get this straight note. we have a new va secretary, nominee i should say and hopefully the new secretary can change the culture. eric: do you think this will ever be able to be fixed? >> has to be fixed. i have served this country honorably. we owe it to them, we have to get this right, eric. eric: congressmen, thank you for joining us this morning. jenna: a chilling note just before she vanished. mysterious case now is attracting national attention. summer is the survey tough time for prices at the pump but now they say that is it for the season. prices are going down. is it too good to be true?

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jenna: the man who became very much the scene of hurricane katrina as mayor of new orleans is heading to prison. former new orleans mayor has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for bribery, money laundering and other related charges. found guilty back in february but now we are getting with punishment will be, these crimes took place before and after

hurricane katrina. an example of what was at stake during the trial. a jury convicted him of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes that included free vacation trips, money, one instance truckloads of free granite for the family business. certainly was under fire from a lot of different charges and obviously found guilty of that, prosecutors asking for upwards of 30 years in prison, but we're getting now the word sentenced to 10 years. we'll reports to prison on september 8. eric: down on wall street things are looking up today. fox business network nicole petallides live at the new york stock exchange for the latest. it was like a roller coaster going up, up, and then suddenly down the last couple of days. reporter: that is right, eric.

we have pulled back a little bit. we tested some new highs, but this is something we have been seeing, every time the market begins to pull back we both began to buy. they continue to say the path of least resistance remains to the upside, that is how in fact the last 10 years we have come from the financial crisis when we were down in our session in 295,500, mostly broke through 16,000. we will get the latest on what they have been thinking pertaining to the economy and the idea they are likely to believe they will be able to raise interest rates later next year and moving that up because they see improvement in the economy and the recovery has been slow, slow recovery but we

have seen the recovery nonetheless in jobs, housing and the likes. the winners on the dow jones industrial average, mcdonald, disney, walmart and two movers for you today, first is garmin. now the downside 6% lower because the idea is the new iphone may compete against garmin. the winner for you are the airlines, american airlines, southwest airlines seeing strong summer demand raising their growth outlook. the dow is up 26.7. back to you. jenna: right after paying the highest july 4 gas prices in six years, now we're getting reports that it may change, things may change, gasbuddy.com that tracks gas prices say the hike over the holiday weekend cost us all nearly $40 billion. but now we may see some relief.

the national average around the country is $3.65 per gallon, down $0.03 from this past holiday weekend and some say the prices will continue to go down and down for the foreseeable future. joining us from chicago. how high prices could go, why the turnaround all of a sudden? >> a couple of things, jenna. the presumption of supplies back from libya. one of the concerns old gasoline prices up was concerns of iraq, what will we do if we lost iraqi oil? most were down in the southern part of the country and it hasn't been impacted, now we could see lots of supply come back online from libya. the price of brent crude one of the biggest daily drops we have seen probably in five years. the other thing was that darn hurricane on the east coast,

hurricane arthur. a dramatic drop in gasoline demand because of that storm. the energy information administration actually showed for the first time in many years, in contrary to what we were expecting, gasoline demand the fourth of july weekend actually fell from what it was a year ago. a big surprise the market, the prices continue to fall. >jenna: $40 billion in june. interesting to see the demand dropped over the very popular travel time, so how low can it go? looking for a little good news, how low can it go? >> right now from the peak a couple weeks ago, we're in this worrying of losing the oil from iraq. prices and the futures market have fallen $0.25 per gallon. usually that will translate to the pump over the next couple of

weeks so as long as there is no major disruption of supply, we can continue to see the move lower. we can see by the end of july prices may be 10 to $0.25 by the end of the month. there are still some risks out there. last hurricane, hurricane arthur did more damage to demand they did to supply. but we can lose productions and refineries can go back up. obviously the world is still a very dangerous place despite the fact libyan supply is back online, they have not been a reliable producer. we could see the prices go back up. jenna: expecting that on a daily basis. different news at how quickly changes from day to day. i showed the viewers a map of the highest prices because i am sure some are thinking i am not seeing lower prices.

i talked about the regional differences, where will you see high prices and where are the lowest prices whic? >> most of that is in the west coast. despite the fact here in the midwest the prices were already couple of weeks ago, our supply situation is easily the best. right now california continues to have some of the highest taxes in the country, the toughest regulations and we have to import their oil from overseas. their prices are going to be the last to fall. down in the gulf coast, that is the most beautiful part of the country. all of the oil going down to the gulf coast part of the country, that means you will be close to those refineries producing a lot of gasoline. a lot of gasoline produced last week.

the gulf coast is going to be the best at times. go from california, go down to the gulf coast, you're really going to enjoy it. jenna: great to see you as always, thank you. eric: have you heard about this, a shocking surprise cleaning out an old storage room. we will tell you what they found. united nations weighing in on how to treat the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors across the southern border illegally. they should be considered refugees. are they? and if so, what does that mean? vo: this is the summer.

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campaign. >> plus, costco is reversed his decision to pull a controversial book from its shelves. why it is a clearly political move. >> do you believe in love at first sight? little scary. taking reality tv whole new level. >> "outnumbered" at the top of the hour, we will see you then. >> sounds like a huge commitment be at eric: we will see you in 15 minutes. legal immigrants flooding our border. the obama administration vows to send back with the native nations says not fast. the southern parts of the

country have it heartbreaking. mothers and children and some kids without their parents seeking a better life here fleeing the poverty in south america. you and officials are calling them refugees. displaced by armed conflict. that could boost pressure on u.s. and mexico to keep them. so what exactly does that mean and what do they want? a diplomat and a fox news contributor. first of all, are they refugees? >> first of all whether or not they are refugees is not the point, our obligation to refugees is to provide aid. i would argue the $400 million we provided over the last several weeks and the billions of dollars we have been giving over the last year is clearly aid. we have been doing our part to help the situation down there. what the u.s. investor needs to do tomorrow is absolutely say

we're the most generous country, we are providing a ton of aid and just recite all of the aid we are given, and that should be able to push back and say regardless whether or not you caught refugee, we are providing substantial aid. eric: they say they are fleeing this conflict usually being those fleeing communism, pressed for james, ethnic cleansing, ethnic tribes, this sort of thing. do they qualify for that or is there another classification? >> most probably don't. we have to outline the process wbe had. it has a very good process that says this is what you need to meet in terms of criteria in order to get some sort of a silent. most of these are not going to

meet the criteria, but if you meet some that do, we have to get in line, we have a process and we can absolutely look at their situation on a case-by-case basis and make a determination. just say all of these people are refugees simply because they want a better way of life, the whole world wants a better way of life. eric: let's take a look at the 1951 u.n. convention. well-founded fear of being persecuted, persons of race, religion, nationality, a particular social group or political opinion outside the country of the nationality. unwilling to unveil himself to e protection of that country. they will say a lot of these folks can't be protected in their own countries, they are full of armed gangs, fearful of the violence. is that enough of a reason to grant them refugee status? >> not at all.

that definition really means there are 100 plus countries that should have the citizens lining up to come to the united states. we have a process, other countries have a process, we should not be embarrassed nor should we pretended what we're doing to close the border is not compassionate. i think it is very compassionate to have a legal process that we stick to, we are willing to be compassionate but others have to follow the law. eric: the meeting at the united nations, it really is a humanitarian crisis. jenna: working to help rescue a group of people stranded on top of a van. how they got there in the first place an how they got out. now her parents fear she is a victim of human trafficking.

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jenna: government workers make a shocking discovery, six vials of the smallpox virus in an old storage room at the national institute, they were sealed properly and no workers were exposed to the virus. smallpox was eradicated in the late '70s but in international agreement allows its be stored in just two: abs in the entire world. in the united states and in russia. the vial files are being sent to headquarters in atlanta. the second recent incidents for the cdc involving a dangerous pathogen. sealed properly and found them. eric: a dramatic rescue in

houston. crashed into a guardrail and plunged into the bayou. they crawled up on top of the roof of the van and as you can see extended letters to get everybody to safety. it was actually upside down and headed into the water when it flipped over and crashed into the water will stand. those inside the van taken to the hospital, no word at the moment exactly on their conditions. jenna: i at his girl disappeared after a very chilling journal entry which said if you are reading this i might be missing or dead. live in seattle with more. >> this is a strange one. officials say he wrote that i notebook june 6, 2 and a half weeks before she went missing. she sent boy from a text saying she was in danger and people she was involved with worth

addressing to kill him and the family. they talked to be what the high school who said she was getting into some bad stuff and in over her head. now believes her daughter is the victim of trafficking and working with the national coalition of women against violence and exportation based in nearby vancouver, washington. she left her home around 9:30 at night, a surge of her room turned up cell phone her mother did not know she had. right now the best information seems to be coming from a neighbor who saw angie come home and get out of the car a few hours before she vanished. a light blue volvo, pipe with people and the driver said to be a black male, 25-35 years old with a goatee. she may also be carrying a backpack and friends and families holding a vigil this

sunday in vancouver. jenna: thank you be at eric: a filing today with a long-awaited court action in mexico. he has been jailed there for the last three months plus. he made a wrong turn it crossed the border. so we want to hear from you. do you think you will actually get a fair trial in mexico and tbe released? live chat is up and running. click on america's asking to join the discussion on the jailed marine.

eric: annual running for the bulls is taking a turn for the worst on the cobbled streets of pamplona, spain. take a look. and they're off. two people though did end up on the receiving end of those sharp horns. one of them an american, was gored in the thigh of the other person in the neck. at least 14 people have been

killed at this famous event over the past 100 years. the most recent death there happening in 2009. jenna, i mean you couldn't pay me enough money to be in front of a rampaging 2,000-pound beast with those rampaging horns coming after me. jenna: well, too each his own. we'll see you back in an hour. out numbered starts right now. >> this is "outnumbered." i'm andrea tantaros. sandra smith, fox contributor, actress, stacy dash and pete hegseth is back. he. >> i don't know if i'm nor under siege from those running from the bulls. >> jenna lee was in red. >> true. >> welcome babbling to stacey as well. >> beautiful in blue. let's go right to th